CUSTOM EXCISE & SERVICE TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL, BANGALORE
P.G. CHACKO, J.
Jumbo Mining Ltd. -Appellant
Versus
Commissioner of Central Excise, Hyderabad -Respondent
Final Order No. 690/2012 Appeal No. ST/1169/2010
Decided On : 15-10-2012
N. Jagadish
1. This appeal filed by the assessee is against rejection of certain rebate claims viz (i) claim of Rs. 1,35,802/- being the service tax paid on GTA service used for transportation of goods from factory to the port of export (ii) claim of Rs. 8,499/- being the service tax paid on stockyard rent, both for the period from April to June 2009. There is no representation for the appellant. However, their counsel has filed written submissions with a request for a decision on merits. In those written submissions, it has been stated that the question whether the appellant can claim rebate of the service tax paid on GTA service used for transportation of goods from their factory to the port of export is already covered in their favour by the Tribunal's Final Order Nos. 838 & 839/2011, dated 16-12-2011 in Service Tax Appeal Nos. 547 & 549/2010 Jumbo Mining Ltd. v. CCE filed by the same assessee. The learned Superintendent (A.R.) has also fairly acknowledged this factual position. On a perusal of the cited Final Order, I find that the goods (Feldspar, Quartz and Fuller's earth) for export were transported from the assessee's factory to Kakinada port directly and that each export consignment covered by a shipping bill being to the tune of 6000 to 8000 tonnes could not have been transported by a single lorry and the same required to be aggregated at the port premises before the shipping documents were prepared. Considering the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, it was held that condition No. (iii) attached to SI. No. 11 in the schedule to Notification No. 41/2007-S.T., dated 6-10-2007 as amended by Notification No. 3/2008-S.T., dated 19-2-2008 could be complied with by a broad correlation of the evidence of transportation with the service tax paid thereon and the quantity exported. In the instant case also, the goods were admittedly transported from the appellant's factory directly to Kakinada port. There is no dispute with regard to the quantity of goods cleared from the factory and transported to the port or with regard to the service tax paid on the GTA service used for transportation. The only reason stated by the lower authorities for denying rebate of the service tax paid on the GTA service is that details of the exporter's invoice were not specifically mentioned in the lorry receipts. it is not the case of the department that the lorry receipts did not tally with the export documents in respect of other essential particulars. In other words, a broad correlation is found in the instant case of the assessee also. In this view of the matter, it is held that the appellant is entitled to a rebate of Rs. 1,35,802/-.
2. Regarding the rebate claim of Rs. 8,499/-, the written submissions refer to land allotment letter dated 30-7-2007 issued by Kakinada Sea Ports Ltd., to M/s. Chandra Shipping and Trading Services. The relevant ground raised in the memorandum of appeal reads thus:—
"The learned authority ought to have seen that the Custom House agent is authorized person by the port in respect of the said goods. Such being the factual position, the amounts paid towards rent for keeping the goods in the premises of port area is entitled for refund."
The above ground seems to have been reiterated in the written submissions but there is no specific reference to the input service on which rebate is claimed, let alone any nexus between the input service and the export of goods. In the circumstances, the appellant has failed to establish any basis for the rebate claim. The claim of Rs. 8,499/- is, therefore, not admissible to them.
3. In the result, the appeal is partly allowed.